Mark W. Fraser, PhD, holds the Tate Distinguished Professorship at the School of Social Work, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he serves as Associate Dean for Research. In addition, he leads the Making Choices Project, an early intervention program for high-risk children and their families. Fraser is the author or editor of nine books and more than 100 journal articles and chapters on risk and resilience, child behavior, child and family services, and research methods. He has received grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Institute of Education Sciences, foundations, and state and local agencies. In 2009, Fraser was appointed the editor-in-chief of the Society for Social Work and Research’s newly established e-journal, the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. Previously, he served as editor of NASW Press’ practice resources book series, and is currently a member of the editorial board of Sage Publications’ human services series. Fraser received his MSW from the University of Denver and his PhD from the School of Social Work at the University of Washington.
Presentation: The Effectiveness of Social and Character Development Programs in Elementary Schools
The Social and Character Development (SACD) Project was designed to evaluate the impact of social problem-solving and classroom behavior management interventions on the academic and behavioral adjustment of children in elementary school. Overall, some 94 schools were involved in a randomized trial of six different SACD programs in six regions of the country.
In this presentation, Dr. Fraser, who served as one of principal investigators in the national study, will discuss findings from one of the sites. Baseline data were collected in the fall of the third grade, and participants were followed through the fifth grade with assessments in fall and spring of most years. Teachers were trained to use the Making Choices program and other classroom management strategies in a daylong in-service prior to the beginning of the school year. The findings suggest that SACD is effective, with small cumulative positive effects on social competence, academic achievement and classroom behavior.
